Some arrests made in Quetta suicide attack, says Nisar

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday revealed that some suspects were arrested for their possible links with the Quetta suicide attack in which over 70, mostly lawyers and video journalists were killed and hundreds of others injured.

Media representatives were putting questions to the federal minister about the investigation into the attack in Balochistan’s capital city when Nisar gave credit to the intelligence agencies for making the arrests possible for that matter.

Because of the agencies’ efforts, the investigators found connecting leads and links in the incident, however, it was too early to come to any conclusion yet, Nisar said.

More than 70 people died when a suicide bomb tore through a crowd of mourners gathered at Civil Hospital in Quetta on August 8, in an attack claimed by both the Taliban and Islamic State group.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had called for security forces to “decimate” terrorists after the blast at the hospital, which also wounded more than 100 people.

Following the tragic incident, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government and major opposition parties agreed to implement the National Action Plan aimed at eliminating terrorism from the country will full force.

Referring to the recent deliberations on the implementation of the National Action Plan, the minister said, it was possible to fully execute the plan only if provincial ministers also share the table of discussion with the federal government.

We will invite provincial ministers to be a part of the NAP’s next meeting, said Nisar.

Answering another question regarding the fate of an American national, Matthew Barrett, who entered Pakistan last week after being expelled from the country five years ago, he said, the government was probing what circumstances helped him get a Pakistani visa within 24 hours due to an official’s negligence.

The minister added, a first information report registered against the 33-year-old Alabama native did not mention that he was involved in spying.